


charmed

by JoyfullyyoursDav



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Childhood, Family Feels, Gen, Homelessness, Magic, Original Character(s), Pre-Canon, Siblings, Spells & Enchantments, Survival, Teenagers, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-13 16:56:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14116803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyfullyyoursDav/pseuds/JoyfullyyoursDav
Summary: A snippet from Taako and Lup's homeless youth. Also: when Taako learned how to Charm people.





	charmed

Lup turned to her brother outside the Next Well Tavern. “You ready?” she asked. Taako nodded. His expression was vague and stoic, which told Lup he was feeling nervous.

“Remember. Be confident,” she said.

“ _You_ be confident,” he replied. “I have my methods.”

Lup rolled her eyes. “Just don’t blow it, okay?” she said, and Taako gave her a quick thumbs-up before they entered the tavern together.

The barkeep, a halfling man with more hair on his face than on his head, wiped his hands on his apron before reaching out to shake Taako’s hand, then Lup’s. “You two here about the job, yeah?” he asked gruffly.

“Yeah,” Lup replied.

“And so are you!” Taako chimed in, a slightly vacant smile on his face. The barkeep glanced at him, then at Lup, looking a little confused. Lup just kept smiling, close-lipped and patient, until he shrugged and sat down at a nearby table. He gestured for them to do the same.

“The name’s Dorn,” the barkeep said.

“I’m Lup. This is Taako,” Lup said.

“Pleasure. Well, the job’s pretty simple,” Dorn said. “Pour ale. Collect coin. Sweep up. And of course, kick folks out if they get too rowdy. That’s why I wanted some arcanists, see. People think they can get away with more if you don’t got the option to blast ‘em out. You… _are_ both arcanists, right?” He looked at them, back and forth, as if waiting to see sparks fly out of the tops of their heads.

“Big time,” Taako said.

Before Dorn could ask for references, Lup added, “Self-taught, but skilled.”

“Yeah, well,” he grunted. “Guess I’ll be the judge of that.” He glanced at Taako again, somewhat doubtfully, before pulling out a scroll of parchment and ink, began jotting things down. “You from around here? I haven’t seen you before.”

“We just got here a couple days ago,” Lup explained.

“Oh. Where from?”

“Far east,” Lup answered noncommittally.

“Ah. Where are you staying?” Dorn asked.

“Beed’s Inn,” she replied. It wasn’t true, of course. They could no more afford to stay in an inn than they could afford supper tonight. But they’d spent the day yesterday scoping out this village so they’d have a believable back story. Few folks wanted anything to do with a couple of homeless kids. They’d learned a long time ago to tweak details here and there.

“And what brings you to Briar Glen?” Dorn asked.

“Looking for work,” Lup said. “You know. Just starting out, trying to forge our own path.”

“You look young,” Dorn remarked. “How old are you?”

“Eighty-five,” Lup answered. Another lie, by roughly seventy years, but then again, nobody worth working for wanted to hire fourteen-year-olds. “That’s a young adult in halfling years,” she added. Of course, they had prepared for this as well. Yesterday, they had inquired about a job here, saw that the owner was a halfling, and did the math to make sure they could fake a reasonable age. Over the past two years, they’d learned that most non-elves expected them to look younger than their own race’s equivalent. Without issue, they were often able to fudge their ages a bit. 

Lup continued talking. “We’re young, but ready to make it on our own out in the world. Self-motivated, you know?”

Taako discreetly masked a laugh with a quiet cough, and Lup got the message as if he’d shouted it into her ear: _Yeah, yeah, he gets it. We’re self-starters. You’re being a nerd_.

Dorn grunted and jotted something down. “Alright. Listen, I don’t take any malarkey in my tavern. You show up on time, you do your work, you stay out of trouble and absolutely no sampling ale under any circumstance. I’ve gotten burned there before.”

Taako nodded enthusiastically. “Ale’s yuck-o,” he said.

Dorn chuckled. “Well. Good. I wanna see you cast a few spells, of course. Make sure you know how to disarm, blast someone outta the building if necessary.”

“No problem,” Lup said.

“When can you start?”

“Today. As soon as possible.”

Dorn nodded, then said, “Alright. Let’s head out back, see what you got.”

They followed him around the bar, through a door that led into a small stock room. Taako’s eyes lit up at the rows and rows of ale, flour, spices, brandywine, preserved fruit, and other rations lining the walls, and Lup gave him a look that said clearly, _Chill_. There would be time for petty theft later.

They walked through a door on the opposite wall of the stock room that led to a little fenced-in patch of dirt behind the tavern. There was a large trash receptacle opposite the building against the far side of the fence. Dorn put his hands on his hips. “Okay,” he said. “Show me what you got. Stand over there. Aim in that direction, upward if you’re able. For the love of gods, don’t hit my tavern.”

Taako went first, stepping to the spot Dorn had indicated. He adjusted his hat, and with a great flourish of his wrists, cast prestidigitation on himself to make his ears three times their normal size. Lup hid a laugh behind her hand as Dorn crossed his arms. Taako pointed to his ears, grinning, and took a quick bow.

“What’s wrong with him?” Dorn muttered at Lup.

“Nothing,” Lup said, clearing her throat. “Taako, bud, I think he wants to see something a little more… _aggro_.”

“Oh, okay! Why didn’t you say so?” Taako asked and, keeping his giant ears, cast ray of frost. The spell shot out of his wand with a satisfying bang and hit the fence opposite, freezing the entire structure to a solid, smooth block of ice. Dorn looked thoughtfully at the fence, then nodded once in approval.

“Laying it on a little thick,” Lup muttered to Taako as they switched positions, and he flashed her a huge smile.

Lup cast a fire bolt at the fence. Had Taako not frozen it solid, it would have suffered from at least some charring, but instead, Lup’s spell made all the ice melt at once, sending a sheet of water cascading to the ground below. It made the fire bolt itself look more impressive. Taako and Lup always did well in interviews. They knew how to make each other look good.

“Nice,” Dorn said, nodding. “Okay. I’m not gonna lie to you. Hiring two strangers off the street makes me nervous. But it’s rare that even one competent arcanist comes looking for honest work in these parts. More than half the day’s done already, but why don’t you come back first thing in the morning and we’ll set you up?”

“Sounds great,” Taako said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Lup said. “There’s just one more thing. Payment?”

Dorn nodded. “Oh, yeah. Going rate is two silver a day.”

“Two silver _each_ ,” Lup stressed.

“Yeah, of course,” Dorn said.

“Perfect.” Lup stuck out her hand to shake his. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

The twins were elated on their way back to camp. “Four silver a day,” Taako was saying as they headed into the Towering Woods on the edge of town. “That’s two GPs by the end of the week. That should last us a while.”

“Yeah, if we’re careful,” Lup said.

“Duh.”

“Well, gee. Maybe somebody will find another pair of Banana-Peel Boots of Gliding that they just _gotta_ have.” Lup raised her eyebrows at Taako.

“I got the deal of a lifetime on those,” he replied.

“They’re completely unwearable, doofus.”

“They’re not for _wearing_ , dingus.”

Lup stared at him, her eyebrows raised so high now, it was beginning to hurt.

“They’re for _sweet stunts_ ,” he said.

“Oh.” They walked together in silence for a few moments while Lup considered this. “That’s actually a really good point,” she said. “Do you think we can get another pair?”

 

Their campsite was scant and simple, by necessity but also strategy. Passers-by, thieves and regular desperate folk were less likely to ransack or steal from a campsite that didn’t look like much to begin with. They had two sleeping mats, rolled up side-by-side to keep the dirt off, underneath a canvas sheet strung up between two trees with rope. Their backpacks were hidden, covered with dead leaves and twigs, under a nearby bush. That was it.

Lup started building a fire immediately, while Taako began foraging for berries, herbs, nuts, anything edible in the nearby area. They hadn’t had a ton of luck finding edibles yesterday. But if there was one thing they were really, really good at—no bullshit, no tricks—it was not starving to death. Fourteen years and counting.

Lup shredded some willow bark with her fingernail to use as kindling, collecting small bits of wood and twigs, dragging over some boughs they had cut down with magic missiles yesterday. She kept half an eye on Taako as he weaved through the trees, bending down, kicking over rotten logs, holding small objects up to the light. Lup started the fire with crackling magic, and once it was burning well, sat back to admire her work. Making fire never failed to thrill her.

“Nothing except shit berries,” Taako said, walking up behind her and dropping a few handfuls of the big, shiny red berries onto their blanket. Lup made a face. They had first discovered these berries—the actual name of which, they didn’t know—shortly after setting out on their own. They’d watched the bush that grew them for a long time, until they finally saw some birds feasting on the fruit. They’d been so hungry that they’d gorged themselves on as many berries as they could stomach, and spent the next two days sick as dogs.

“I mean, I also found grubs,” Taako continued. “But I dunno if we’re that hungry yet.”

Lup sighed. “Shit berries it is. Maybe if we just eat a few…”

“We’ve got some dry rations left,” Taako said cheerfully, reaching into one of the bags. He was in an unusually sunny mood, thanks to the silver that was coming their way. “I was thinking about making a compote. Would be good on hard tack, and that way we wouldn’t eat too many of them. We’ve got some dried fruit, that should be enough sugar…” And with that, Taako got to work, combining different amounts of the ingredients they had into a pot, which he set over the fire and watched like a hawk, stirring occasionally.

When the compote was done, they spread it over bits of hardtack. It almost made the experience of eating hardtack pleasurable. “You, my brother,” Lup told Taako, “are a fucking food wizard.”

Taako laughed. “That’s the idea.”

They ate in contented silence. When they were done, they stretched out on their mats and Taako asked, “What d’you wanna buy first?”

“Mm,” Lup said. “Eggs. I’d kill for a soft-boiled egg.”

“Oh, dude, fuck that. I want a whole chicken,” Taako said. “A roasted chicken? With rosemary and garlic?” He groaned.

“I want pie,” Lup said.

“Ooh, apple?”

“Any kind.”

“Maybe tomorrow night we can stay at the inn,” Taako said. “Running water and beds would be nice.”

“Yeah. If we’re making four silver a day, we should be able to swing that.”

Taako closed his eyes, beaming. “It’s a good day,” he declared to the sky, and Lup chuckled, and agreed.

 

Bright and early the next morning, the twins headed back to the Next Well Tavern. Dorn was waiting for them, and gave them a very quick run-down before opening the doors for the day. The work was simple enough, but grueling. Next Well was the only tavern in town, and it seemed like every villager stopped in for a pint, a conversation or a brawl. Nobody tipped, and the twins couldn’t tell if this was just how Briar Glen was, or if these townsfolk just didn’t tip people they didn’t know. The whole day was spent on their feet, hurrying back and forth to the bar, to tables, to the stock room for more brandy, to the tables again. They had to break up three separate fights.

At one point, during a break in the chaos, Taako attempted to carry a bottle of brandywine out back, to hide in the alley between buildings for them to take home later. But Dorn was back there, smoking a cigar. “What d’you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry!” Taako said loudly. “I thought this was the way to the dining room. What a silly!”

Lup overheard this from the stock room and tensed, her palms growing hot as she prepared to fight their way out, if necessary. But Dorn simply said, “No, son. Wrong door,” and Taako ducked back inside.

“The idiot wizard routine works again,” he whispered at Lup, a victorious smile on his face.

Lup rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said. “Just be careful, please.” She’d never admit how well this scheme of Taako’s worked, over and over again. It was annoying in its effectiveness.

Finally, Dorn started ushering patrons out to close up, and Taako and Lup tidied up, swept the floors, and stacked chairs. As they finished, Dorn walked behind the bar and opened the cash register for their payment. He slid two silver pieces across the bar top towards them. Taako picked up one of the silvers, staring at it hard, then looked at Dorn, incredulous. “What is this?” he asked.

“Your pay,” Dorn said.

“This isn’t what we agreed,” Lup said.

“Yeah? Well. See you tomorrow.” Dorn went back to wiping down the bar top, his face emotionless.

“You said two silver a day,” Lup said.

Dorn glanced at them both, back and forth, in that irritating way he so often did. “That’s two,” he grunted.

“Two _each_ ,” Lup said. “We’ve been here since this morning. You can’t split our pay just because there’s two of us.”

“Look,” Dorn said. “You’re young. You don’t know how the world works. I’ll give you a hint: you earn whatever I pay you. You don’t like it, good luck finding something else in this town that pays. Especially a couple of vagrant kids like yourself.” Taako glanced at Lup, who didn’t break her gaze from Dorn. He chuckled and said, “Yeah. I happen to know Beed. You aren’t staying there. I figured you lied because you aren’t staying anywhere. And I think you lied about more than that. I don’t think you’re as old as you said you were. But of course, none of that’s my business.”

“No, it’s not,” Lup said.

“My business is paying you what I think is a fair price,” Dorn said. “And I say one silver apiece for a couple of transient kids with amateur magics is plenty fair.”

“So you’re going to keep underpaying us, then?” Lup demanded.

Dorn smiled nastily. “Yeah, I think I might do,” he said.

 

Back at camp, Taako placed all of their coins on his sleeping mat: two silver and four copper. Their whole life’s bounty. He sighed. “Well,” he said. “I guess we’re not staying in an inn tonight, unless we _really_ feel like burning one of these silver.”

“That cheap _fuck_ ,” Lup seethed. She grabbed the nearest felled branch and started hitting things with it. Tree trunks, the ground, low-hanging branches. “We should set fire to his tacky tavern,” she continued ferociously as she swung the branch around. “Show him exactly how _amateur_ our magics are, and then bounce.”

Taako pushed one piece of silver around the other coins in a circle, contemplative. “If we work a couple more days,” he said, “we’ll have enough to stay at an inn in the next town.”

“Fuck that,” Lup said angrily. “You can’t seriously want to go back there.”

“Of course I don’t,” he answered. “I want a _bath_. I want a hot meal. I want to lie down in a bed.”

Lup sighed, tossed her branch into the woods and sat down next to him. “The next town might have something better,” she said. “A job that actually pays fairly.”

“Or it could have nothing,” he pointed out. “It could be weeks before we get another job.” He leaned back on his hands. “I’m hungry, Lup.”

Lup reached over and grabbed one of their bags, started rummaging through it. “We’ve got a few pieces of jerky left,” she said. “Some hardtack, too.”

Taako sighed heavily.

“Look, let’s go into town,” Lup suggested. “We can buy a chicken. I’m sure we can find some herbs in these woods. We’ll cook up a good dinner tonight and then…I don’t know. Figure something out.”

“It’s already dark,” Taako said. “Let’s just eat some jerky and call it a night. Maybe we can buy food in the morning.”

As they munched on jerky and the stars came out in the sky above them, Taako finally sighed and said, “You’re right. We can’t go back. I just…” He didn’t finish his sentence.

Lup reached over to hold his hand. “I know,” she said. She promised him they would work something out. She promised him a hot meal tomorrow. He was too upset and anxious to sleep, so she told him she'd keep watch. And she held his hand until his eyes closed and his breathing leveled out. While he slept, she stared into the fire, fed it pieces of wood as it needed, and listened to the night.

 

The next morning, the twins cleaned up their camp, hid their packs and walked into town. Lup passionately spat at the Next Well Tavern as they passed. They walked through the market, looking at all the wares carefully, doing the math in advance so they could haggle most effectively. In the end, they walked away with a pound of chicken, three cloves of garlic, half a pound of potatoes and a loaf of bread. “I’m pretty sure I can find some wild mushrooms in these woods,” Taako said as they headed back to camp. His spirits were lifted with the promise of a good meal within reach.

But as the twins reached the clearing where they’d set up camp, they froze. This was definitely the right spot. Their fire pit was still warm. But everything was gone. The canvas, their mats...they both dove towards the bush hiding their packs, to find those gone too. Even the rope had been taken. That meant every supply they had—their meager food rations, their cutlery and bowls, their waterskins, and, most infuriatingly, a book of spells Taako had nabbed two towns over—all of it, gone.

Lup let out a flurry of curse words as she stomped around, kicking things, shooting bolts of fire out of her hands every couple steps. Taako sat on his heels near the bush where their packs had been, silent and unmoving. Suddenly and without a word, he stood up, turned around and started walking away. “Where are you going?” Lup called, chasing after him.

“Dorn’s,” Taako replied, and that was all.

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Lup said. “Let’s blow it up. Are we gonna blow it up? Taako?”

But Taako was steely and silent, fists clenched, cheeks slightly pink. As he walked, he took off his jacket, tied it into a pouch and put their food purchases inside. Lup did the same with her jacket to split the load. Then Lup followed him in silence, all the way to the Next Well Tavern. She was buzzing with excitement the whole way. Taako rarely took initiative to fuck shit up, but when he did, she delighted in it.

“Follow my lead,” Taako told Lup briefly before they entered the tavern. He reached for the door knob, then paused to add, “No fire.” Lup pouted, downtrodden. “Unless necessary,” he relented, and they walked inside.

Dorn was behind the bar, cleaning a glass, and he raised his eyebrows at the twins as they walked toward him. “You’re no longer employed here,” he said immediately, “and, quite honestly, you aren't welcome either. You better—”

Taako pointed his wand straight at Dorn, surprising Lup, who hadn’t even seen him draw it. Dorn’s eyes widened but before he could do or say anything, a silver mist shot out of the wand and dissipated against his chest.

“What was that?” Lup whispered.

Taako smiled at her. “I learned a new spell,” he said, then turned back to the barkeep. “Dorn, old friend! How are you doing?”

Dorn blinked, looking slightly confused and off-kilter for a moment, before his face broke into a wide grin. “Oh, I’m doing fine! How about the two of you?” Dorn’s eyes looked blank, glazed over. Lup, realizing what was happening, laughed. _Taako fucking Charmed him._

“Never been better,” Taako said. “Hey, Dorn, darling. This is so embarrassing, but Lup and I completely forgot that our grandmother was coming into town today. It’s her birthday, see, and we’d hate to disappoint her. So we thought we could ask you—our good friend Dorn—for a bit of a loan until we get on our feet. Just so we can treat our grandmother to a good birthday. And you know, we’re stretched pretty thin, what with that little payment mishap the other day.”

Dorn looked down, slightly sheepish. “Uh huh,” he said.

“I’d never ask if I thought you wouldn’t understand,” Taako went on. “But you’re such a great guy, you know? I knew you’d want to help. And you know we’re good for it. We’ll pay you back first thing next week, once some of our dividends pay off. What do you say, my dude?”

Dorn immediately nodded. “Oh, sure, sure,” he said. “I always try to help out my friends. How much were you thinking?”

 _Holy shit._ Lup couldn’t believe it. This was actually going to work.

“Hmm.” Taako scratched his chin for a moment, then said, “Ten? Ten gold? How’s that sound?”

“That’s reasonable,” Dorn said, and both Taako and Lup’s mouths dropped open for a moment as he popped open the register and slid ten gold pieces across the bar top. Lup quickly pocketed them. Then Dorn said, “Anything else I can help with? I can recommend some great places in town to take your gran, if you want!”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Taako said. “Although…you know, Dorn, I told Grandmother all about your patented brandywine. She was very interested, let me tell you. And I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but our grandmother is a _big deal_ in New Elfington. You get her spreading the word about your brandywine, it’s gonna be aces up in this tavern, homie!”

Dorn’s smile widened. “Of course!” he said, and ducked into the stockroom for a moment.

“You…” Lup started to murmur, but Taako quickly shushed her, his eyes locked on the stockroom door.

Dorn came back out, two bottles of brandywine in his hands. “From the finest batch,” he said. “On the house, naturally. Tell your gran to enjoy!”

“Excellent, excellent.” Taako took the bottles. “Thank you so much, darling. We’ll stop by later and let you know how everything went!”

“Great!” Dorn said. “And hey, you two…” Again, for a moment, he looked a little remorseful. “No hard feelings, eh? I mean, you know how it is, running a business in this economy and all…”

“Sure, sure,” Taako told him. “No trouble at all. Anyway, it’s like you said. We don’t know the first thing about how the world works!” Taako started towards the door, and Lup followed. “See you later, pal!” Taako called over his shoulder.

Once outside, Lup burst into near-hysterical laughter. “Oh my god,” she said. “Oh my _god_. You are _amazing_.”

“We gotta hurry,” Taako told her, picking up his pace. “Gotta get as far out of town as we can. Through the woods is probably safest. We’ve got about fifty-four minutes before he comes out of it and realizes what happened.”

Lup laughed harder at this, imagining the look on Dorn’s hairy face when he realized that Taako, the kid he’d thought was a know-nothing, tricked him. “Where did you learn that spell?” Lup asked him.

Taako smiled at her awestruck expression. “Oh, just picked it up, like you do,” he said. “I’ll teach it to you ASAP, don’t worry. I think it’s gonna come in handy, don’t you?”


End file.
